News, Reviews- everything about stand up paddle surfing... get out and poach some!

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Let the Magic Begin, Part II: Clean and Fair

The shaper brings it all to life. Once a board arrives from the mill it's up to the shaper to make it work. This is where hard earned years of experience pay off. The best make it look easy- linking curves, eyeballing rocker lines and fairing rails all while cracking a joke (or a beer).

Above: Stamps, linking the numbers. A good view of my new board, mid-scrub. Too heavy of a hand and you've just destroyed the rail, too light of a touch and the foils all wrong. Think I could do this? Nope!

2nd Photo: A California solution to the surf we've got right here. Another view of my soon to be carve machine.

3rd Photo: How sweet is the rail line and foil on this thing? Still got some beef in it to float all 220lbs of me and at 29" wide isn't going to be skittish in the chop.

He designed the board for a specific spot- big walls, lots of water, lots of speed. Stamps said that the round pin surfs "neutral", told me it'd be less drivey then the square or diamond tail (I like the diamond tail BTW).

I think that's a good call because when the place is on, speed is not a problem- it's being able to hold it all together when you drop down and come square off the bottom- you should see this place when it goes- So, so, so fun- you'd love it!

Sloppy meaning when it gets choppy and messed up. I've surfed sub 28" wide boards- at my size in anything but really smooth water they're a handful- something to think about all the time.

On the board I'm on know, the "paddling section" of the board is flat- on many board that've been unstable there's been a lot of vee in the bottom or the rails have been so pinched that the volume doesn't carry out to the rails. It's like trying to balance longitudinally on a log- tough, unless your a lumberjack.

The 10' Mahi, the green board I'm on now- is more stable then my 12' SOS Big Red- and it paddles well. I don't worry too much about the width- I know I don't want to go over 30" and we're bringing it down while also changing the tail etc.

Key is to find somebody who's got enough experience to make those variables all work for you.